Reveal 4 - AJE Earrings Challenge - Week 7 and 8

It is week 7 and 8 of the AJE Earrings challange and the theme for me has been glass and a little fun...
My first pair uses a pair of frilly pink lampwork ruffles from moderntrails and I decided I will dance with them. So meet my dancers...

Shall we dance?

I used Magnesite skull beads from Happy Mango Beads and made the earwires myself. Would you wear this pair of earrings?

My next pair uses Fossilized seaside glass head pins from HavanaBeads made by Raida Disbrow. These are lovely, you got to see them to appreciate their beauty. I have used bronze colored freshwater pearls that make the lime green head pins just pop!

Spring!

I have been saving a pair of fine silver PMC ruffles that I received from Sandra of PetaloAzul, who was my Bead Soup Partner for the 6th Bead Soup Party. With a pair of hot pink Venetian Glass beads and light grey Swarovksi pearls, I made my third pair of earrings. I love the color combination, do you?

So pretty with pink!

Please stop by and check out all the other earrings made with very creative AJEs on Pinterest.

And enjoy your weekend!

Beads From Africa And A Great Giveway!

While you and I play and create and make a livelihood with our beads, I wonder how many of us realise the profound influence beads have had in the history of our world.

Take beads from Africa for example. Back when European explorers, traders and missionaries were venturing into the African continent, one of the important items they took with them was beads. Beads, mainly of glass, were used as gifts or for barter and trade. Glass beads were exchanged for water, food, gold, ivory, and many such commodities and sadly also for slaves.

We have all heard of African Trade Beads! Today these beads are valuable because of their age, their historical significance and their beauty. Recently I checked out the collection of African Trade Beads for sale at thebeadchest.com.  So much history, so much variety, aren't they beautiful?

Colorful Chevron Beads

Even more colorful Millefiori Beads

African cultures that used beads in their everyday life, opened up to these bright and colorful European beads, and are now known by such joyful names as Christmas Beads (I think they are called that because of they remind one of colorful Christmas decorations) and Wedding Beads (a gift to brides on their wedding day). What fun designs come to mind when I see these colorful beads!

Multi-colored Christmas Beads

The Bridal Mali Wedding Beads

Today, beads made in Africa are a product of their environment and are often made from natural material such as wood, seed, shell, bone, and recycled material such as glass and paper.

Check out this video report that CNN made of thebeadchest.com. What I would give to walk through a bead market in Ghana! Wouldn't that be an adventure?

If you are like me and enjoy working with such exotic beads, you don't have to travel to Africa. You got to look no further than thebeadchest.com. Their store carries a wide variety of colorful beads from Africa, both those used for trade and those made there. The selection of beads span the vast African continent from Ethiopia to South Africa, and from Mali to Ghana. Check it out for yourselves.

And now for the Great Giveaway! 

Thebeadchest.com has generously agreed to give a $25.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE to shop their store for beads of your choice. 

To get your name in the draw you have to leave me a comment on this blog before the 24th of October.

• I would like to know if you have used African beads in any of your jewelry designs? If yes, let me know what kind. 
• Then visit thebeadchest.com and tell me if you had your choice, which would be your favorite strand of beads?
• If you blog about this giveaway to tell all your friends about it, you will be entered  twice.

Please make sure I have your email address to contact you if you should win this fabulous prize.
Don't miss this chance to purchase some exotic African beads and add a new look to your jewelry designs.
The lucky winner will be announced on October 25th.

African beads for sale!

The Bead Chest is a leading online retailer of trade beads, millefiori beads, Krobo beads, and other great glass beads.

Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ Pearls, Better than the real thing?

Sometime in December I received an email from Artbeads.com asking me if I would like to be a part of a group of jewelry designers who review their products and supplies and blog about the experience. I remember jumping out of my chair and running to tell my husband about it. Of course, I said yes, and today I write my first review.
December was Silver and Glass month at Artbeads.com. I chose some silver beads from their vast selection and for my glass beads I chose Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ 5810 Round Pearls. And this is what I created... and I am very pleased. This set is currently for sale in Sundancegems on Ruby Lane.

I received from Artbeads.com free of charge the Swarovski  CRYSTALLIZED™ 5810 Round Pearls in Light Grey and Coral colors in both 6 mm and 8 mm sizes. In addition, I also asked for and received 5mm Bali Silver Roundel Beads. All other sterling silver beads used in creating this necklace and earrings set I had purchased previously from Artbeads.com and were part of my ever-growing inventory of beads. As you can see I had quite a few of their sterling silver beads on hand, they have been and are my goto store for basic beads and supplies.

I had always wanted to check out the Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ 5810 Round Pearl Coral beads to see for myself just how close they came to the real thing. Though I carry real Coral beads in my inventory of finished jewelry and also have  some unused beads, I am becoming more and more vary of using real Coral. The reasons for this, I promise to discuss in a future posting.

The Swarovski CRYSTALLIZED™ 5810 Round Pearl Coral beads are like color enhanced pink Coral beads, and are a good substitute if one is sensitive about using real Coral. I think I will plan more pieces around this product.  I, then chose the Light Grey beads to complement my Coral beads, and I think the combination turned out great. According to Artbeads.com unlike synthetic glass pearls, CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements's crystal faux pearls have a leaded core that make them heavier (the finished product certainly does not feel or look like costume jewelry, this is me saying so!), and CRYSTALLIZED™ - Swarovski Elements's pearl coating is similar to a natural pearl lustre and is consistent in color. It is also resistant to perspiration, UV rays, perfumes, scratches and washing and warms to the skin like real pearls do.

The Bali silver roundel beads, that I also received with my Pearls are used to separate some of the light gray pearls in the necklace. They were great beads, uniform in size, quite thin and perfectly suited for highlighting and separating larger beads. 

The other sterlings silver beads used in this project were Sterling Silver Twist Link, Oval Trigger Clasp - 925 Silver, 060 Round Link Chain, 3 x 2 Crimp Tube, 4 mm Sterling Silver Crimp Cover and 24 gauge sterling silver Head Pins. The earrings were made with sterling silver round ear wire. As previously mentioned, all of these items were purchased from Artbeads.com.

As you can tell by now, I would certainly recommend these products I have described above. I did have one problem with my Swarovski  CRYSTALLIZED™ 5810 Round Pearl beads, it seemed that almost on every bead, on one side the beading hole was perfect, while on the other side of the bead the hole almost always had a tiny edge to it. I did not file it off, in case I took away some of the coating. I used the beads as is and they did not seem to effect the final outcome in anyway. I will try to clean them off as one would Venetian Glass beads, but since these holes are much smaller than those on Venetian glass beads, I do not think the same technique would work. If anyone has some thoughts on this, I would certainly like to hear about it. All in all it was a pleasant and satisfying experience.

Disclosure: I received the beads described above above free of charge from Artbeads.com. I have been asked to review these beads/supplies and give my honest opinion of them.  I am not being paid by Artbeads.com for my endorsement of any of the products received and reviewed in my blog postings.